Harry Potter Book Series

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Harry Potter lives with his abusive uncle and aunt, Vernon and Petunia Dursley, and their bullying son, Dudley, in the fictional English town of Little Whinging in 1991. On Harry's eleventh birthday, he learns that he is a wizard when a half-giant named Rubeus Hagrid invites him to attend Hogwarts, a school of magic. Hagrid explains that when Harry was an infant, a dark wizard named Voldemort murdered Harry's parents and tried to kill Harry as well. However, Voldemort's killing curse rebounded and seemingly destroyed him, leaving a lightning bolt-shaped scar on Harry's forehead.
Hagrid takes Harry to Diagon Alley, where Harry discovers he is famous among wizards. He buys a wand, an owl named Hedwig, and other school supplies. A month later, Harry takes the Hogwarts Express to Hogwarts. During the journey, he befriends Ron Weasley, a fellow first-year student. He also meets Hermione Granger and has a confrontation with Draco Malfoy. At Hogwarts, a magical Sorting Hat assigns each first-year student to a House. Harry, Ron, and Hermione are assigned to Gryffindor, although the Hat considers putting Harry in Slytherin.
Harry's skill at broomstick flying earns him a place on the Gryffindor Quidditch team as the Seeker. He develops a dislike for the Potions professor Severus Snape, who seems to hate Harry. One night, Harry and Ron discover a gigantic three-headed dog guarding a trapdoor. The two boys later save Hermione from a troll and begin a friendship with her. During Harry's first Quidditch match, his broomstick attempts to throw him off. Snape's strange behaviour during the match convinces Hermione that Snape jinxed Harry's broom. On Christmas, Harry receives an anonymous gift—his father's invisibility cloak. While using the cloak to explore the school undetected, he discovers the Mirror of Erised, which shows the viewer what they most desire. Harry sees his parents and other members of his family in the mirror.
In 1992, Harry, Ron, and Hermione learn that the three-headed dog is guarding a magical object called the Philosopher's Stone, which grants its user immortality. A centaur named Firenze warns Harry that Voldemort is plotting to steal the Stone to restore his body. When the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, is lured away from Hogwarts, Harry and his friends fear the theft is imminent and descend through the trapdoor to retrieve the Stone. Various obstacles force Ron and Hermione to remain behind while Harry approaches the Stone. He encounters Professor Quirrell, the Defence Against the Dark Arts instructor, who explains that he serves Voldemort and that it was he who jinxed Harry's broom; Snape was trying to save Harry during the match. Quirrell attempts to retrieve the Stone from the Mirror of Erised, but cannot figure out how. When Harry looks in the Mirror, he feels the Stone drop into his pocket. Quirrell then reveals that Voldemort has possessed his body, and shows Harry Voldemort's face on the back of his head. Quirrell attempts to seize the Stone, but his flesh burns upon contact with Harry. As Harry and Quirrell struggle, Harry's scar begins to burn, and he passes out.
Harry awakens in the school's infirmary. Dumbledore explains that Harry survived because he is protected by a magical charm that was created when his mother died trying to protect him. Quirrell's hatred and greed caused him to burn upon contact with Harry, and Voldemort abandoned him to die. Dumbledore also reveals that the Stone has been destroyed. During the school's end-of-year feast, Gryffindor is awarded the House Cup. Harry then returns to the home of the Dursleys for the summer.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

While spending the summer of 1992 with the Dursleys, the twelve-year-old Harry Potter is visited by Dobby, a house-elf. Dobby says Harry is in danger and must promise not to return to Hogwarts. When Harry refuses, Dobby uses magic to destroy a pudding made by Aunt Petunia. Believing that Harry created the mess, Uncle Vernon locks him in his room. The Ministry of Magic sends a notice accusing Harry of performing underage magic and threatening to expel him from Hogwarts if it happens again.
The Weasley brothers Ron, Fred, and George arrive in their father's flying car and take Harry to their home. When Harry and the Weasleys go to Diagon Alley for school supplies, they meet Gilderoy Lockhart, a celebrity author who is the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. At King's Cross station, Harry and Ron cannot enter Platform 9¾ to board the Hogwarts Express, so they fly to Hogwarts in the enchanted car.
During the 1992-1993 school year, Harry hears a strange voice emanating from the castle walls. Argus Filch's cat is found magically immobilised, along with a warning scrawled on the wall: "The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir, beware". Harry learns that the Chamber supposedly houses a monster that attacks Muggle-born students, and which only the Heir of Slytherin can control. During a Quidditch match, a rogue Bludger strikes Harry, breaking his arm. Professor Lockhart botches an attempt to mend the injury, which sends Harry to the hospital wing. Dobby visits Harry and reveals that he jinxed the Bludger and sealed the portal at King's Cross. He also tells Harry that house-elves are bound to serve a master, and cannot be freed unless their master gives them clothing.
After another attack from the monster, students attend a defensive duelling class. During the class, Harry displays the rare ability to speak Parseltongue, the language of snakes. Moaning Myrtle, a ghost who haunts a bathroom, shows Harry and his friends a diary that was left in her stall. It belonged to Tom Riddle, a student who witnessed another student's death when the Chamber was last opened. During the next attack by the monster, Hermione Granger is immobilised.
Harry and Ron learn that the monster is a Basilisk, a gigantic snake that can kill victims with a direct gaze and immobilise them with an indirect gaze. Harry realizes the Basilisk is producing the voice that he hears in the walls. After Ron's sister Ginny is abducted and taken into the Chamber, Harry and Ron discover the Chamber entrance in Myrtle's bathroom. When they force Lockhart to enter with them, he confesses that the stories he told of his heroic adventures are fabrications. He attempts to erase the boys's memories, but his spell backfires and obliterates his own memory.
Harry finds Ginny unconscious in the Chamber. A manifestation of Tom Riddle appears and reveals that Riddle is Lord Voldemort and the Heir of Slytherin. After explaining that he opened the Chamber, Riddle summons the Basilisk to kill Harry. Dumbledore's phoenix Fawkes arrives, bringing Harry the Sorting Hat. While Fawkes blinds the Basilisk, Harry pulls the Sword of Gryffindor from the Hat. He slays the serpent, then stabs the diary with a Basilisk fang, destroying it and the manifestation of Riddle. Later, Harry liberates Dobby by tricking his master, Lucius Malfoy, into giving him clothing. At the end of the novel, the immobilised students are cured and Gryffindor wins the House Cup.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

During the summer, 13-year-old Harry sees Muggle news about an escaped murderer named Sirius Black. Some time after this, Harry accidentally performs magic at the home of his Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon. He then uses The Knight Bus to flee his aunt and uncle and travel to London. While on the Knight Bus, he learns that Sirius Black is a wizard who broke out of Azkaban. When arriving in London, Harry is greeted by Cornelius Fudge, the Minister for Magic, who tells him to stay the rest of the summer in the Wizarding Diagon Alley.
With Black at large, Dementors have been stationed at Hogwarts as a security measure. Harry repeatedly faints in the presence of the Dementors, but eventually is taught by Professor Lupin how to repel them using the Patronus Charm.
During a Care of Magical Creatures lesson with Hagrid, Draco Malfoy is injured after provoking a hippogriff named Buckbeak. Draco's father, Lucius Malfoy, gets Hagrid put on trial for owning a dangerous creature. When Harry is unable to participate in weekend trips to Hogsmeade Village, Fred and George give him a magical map that shows him how to get there using a secret passage. At the Three Broomsticks pub, Harry overhears that Black is his godfather, that he betrayed Harry's parents to Voldemort, and that he now seeks to kill Harry as well.
When Ron's pet rat Scabbers disappears, he blames Hermione and her cat Crookshanks. Ron and Hermione stop talking to each other, although Hermione is distraught when Ron is attacked by Black inside the Gryffindor dormitory. After the attack, Black cannot be found. When Harry, Ron and Hermione learn that Buckbeak will be executed, they console Hagrid, and Ron and Hermione resume their friendship. Hermione and Ron also find Scabbers hiding in Hagrid's hut. As the friends make their way back to the castle, Ron is attacked by a large black dog, which drags him through the passageway leading to Hogsmeade. Harry and Hermione give chase, and find themselves in the Shrieking Shack, where the dog is revealed to be Black in his Animagus form. Lupin arrives, and Black states that he intends to kill Scabbers, not Harry. He explains that Scabbers is Peter Pettigrew, who betrayed Harry's parents to Voldemort and framed Black for mass murder. Black and Lupin compel Pettigrew to change into his human form, then haul him back to Hogwarts.
On the way to the castle, the full moon causes Lupin to transform into a werewolf. Pettigrew escapes and is pursued by Black, Harry and Hermione, who encounter Dementors and lose consciousness. They awaken in the castle, where Black is now being held captive. Harry and Hermione proclaim his innocence to Dumbledore, who suggests using Hermione's Time Turner. Harry and Hermione travel back in time and save both Black and Buckbeak, who fly away together. Snape blames Lupin for Black's disappearance and makes his werewolf identity public, which forces Lupin to resign. On the train back to London, Harry receives a letter from Black, expressing his gratitude to Harry for saving his life.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

During the summer, there is an attack at the Quidditch World Cup. The cloaked assailants resemble Death Eaters, the followers of Voldemort. When the school term begins at Hogwarts, Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody is introduced as the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. Dumbledore announces that students from the foreign wizarding schools Beauxbatons and Durmstraang will be arriving at Hogwarts to participate in the Triwizard Tournament. Students who meet the age requirement are invited to enter themselves in the tournament by putting their names into an artefact called the Goblet of Fire. Although Harry does not nominate himself, he is mysteriously selected to compete against the older students Cedric Diggory, Fleur Delacour and Viktor Krum.
Harry is interviewed by the Daily Prophet reporter Rita Skeeter, who writes a scathing article portraying him as a disturbed attention-seeker. Using the Hogwarts Floo Network, Harry speaks with his godfather Sirius Black, who warns him about Durmstrang's headmaster Igor Karkaroff, who is a former Death Eater. Sirius believes that Harry's selection for the dangerous tournament is somehow connected to the attack at the World Cup. Hagrid alerts Harry that the First Task involves a dragon. After Moody reminds Harry that he is an expert flyer, Harry uses his broomstick to fly past the dragon and accomplish the task.
As Christmas approaches, Harry asks a girl named Cho Chang to the Yule Ball, but she is already going with Cedric. Harry and Ron end up going to the ball with the twin sisters Parvati and Padma Patil. Ron is sullen as he observes Hermione dancing with Krum. As the Second Task nears, Harry learns that he will need to rescue someone from the lake. The house-elf Dobby gives him Gillyweed, which allows him to breathe underwater long enough to rescue both Ron and Fleur's sister Gabrielle. He is awarded extra points for his bravery and is tied for first place.
In the Third Task, Harry and his competitors must navigate a maze of obstacles to reach the Triwizard Cup. Harry and Cedric reach the Cup at the same time and decide to grab it together. They are immediately transported to a graveyard, where Peter Pettigrew kills Cedric and subdues Harry. Using Harry's blood, he performs a rite that returns Voldemort to bodily form. As Voldemort and Harry duel, their wands magically connect. This distraction allows Harry the chance to escape back to Hogwarts with the Cup and Cedric's body.
Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Snape discover that Moody is actually the Death Eater Barty Crouch Jr, who has been constantly drinking Polyjuice Potion. When they administer him a truth potion, he reveals that he placed Harry's name in the Goblet, supported him through the Tasks so that he would reach the Triwizard Cup first, and ensured he was transported to the graveyard for the rite by turning the cup into a Portkey. Crouch Jr. is handed over to the Dementors, who render him soulless with the Dementor's Kiss. Recovering in the hospital wing, Harry narrates the events to Cedric's parents and offers them his tournament winnings; they will not accept the gold, so he gives it to Fred and George Weasley so they can open their joke shop. During a memorial service for Cedric, Dumbledore tells the students of Hogwarts that Voldemort has returned. Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic, is sceptical of Harry's story.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

During the summer, Harry is frustrated by the lack of communication from his friends and by Dumbledore's refusal to let him help in the struggle against Lord Voldemort. One evening, Dementors attack him and his cousin Dudley, but Harry fends them off using the Patronus Charm. Later, members of the Order of the Phoenix arrive at the Dursley residence and take Harry to Number 12, Grimmauld Place. Number 12 is Sirius Black's family home and the headquarters of the Order, which is a secret organisation founded by Dumbledore to fight Voldemort and his Death Eaters. Harry wants to join the Order, but is too young.
Under the leadership of Cornelius Fudge, the Ministry of Magic is waging a smear campaign against Harry and Dumbledore, claiming they are lying about the return of Voldemort. Harry faces legal charges for the Patronus Charm he performed, but is exonerated and returns to Hogwarts. Dolores Umbridge, a senior Ministry employee, is the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. She implements a textbook-only curriculum and forbids the students from practising defensive spells. Harry, Ron, and Hermione form a secret student group called Dumbledore's Army, which meets in the Room of Requirement to practice defensive magic under Harry's instruction.
One night, Harry dreams that Arthur Weasley is attacked by Voldemort's snake, Nagini. The attack actually occurred, and Dumbledore realises that Harry's mind is connected to Voldemort. He orders Professor Snape to teach Harry Occlumency to keep Voldemort out of his mind. When Umbridge discovers Dumbledore's Army, Dumbledore saves Harry from expulsion by claiming he formed the group. Dumbledore then goes into hiding to avoid arrest. Umbridge is appointed headmistress and begins enacting strict rules and regulations.
During exams, Harry has a vision of Voldemort torturing Sirius at the Department of Mysteries. He attempts to contact Sirius at Grimmauld Place, but Umbridge catches and interrogates him, admitting she sent the Dementors. Hermione intervenes and convinces Umbridge to go with her and Harry into the Forbidden Forest. When Umbridge provokes the centaurs who live there, they take her captive. Harry and his friends fly to the Ministry to rescue Sirius, but he is not there. Instead, they find shelves containing glass spheres, one of which bears Harry's name. Harry picks it up and is immediately surrounded by Death Eaters. Lucius Malfoy reveals that Harry was lured to the Ministry by a false vision from Voldemort, who wishes to hear the prophecy contained in the sphere. He asks Harry for the sphere, but Harry refuses to give it to him.
The students fight the Death Eaters with help from several Order of the Phoenix members. Neville accidentally knocks the sphere down some steps, destroying it. Bellatrix Lestrange attacks Sirius, and he disappears through a mysterious stone archway to his death. Voldemort appears and tries to kill Harry, but Dumbledore arrives and thwarts him. Fudge and other Ministry of Magic employees arrive on the scene and witness Voldemort just before he flees. Back at Hogwarts, Dumbledore tells Harry the prophecy was made by Professor Trelawney, who predicted the birth of a child with the power to vanquish Voldemort. This prophecy caused Voldemort to murder Harry's parents, and it is why he wishes to kill Harry as well. Harry feels overwhelmed by the prophecy and the loss of his godfather, but the wizarding community now believes him and respects him. Motivated by his friends, Harry returns to the Dursleys for the summer.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Narcissa Malfoy convinces Hogwarts professor Severus Snape to make an Unbreakable Vow to protect her son, Draco, while Draco carries out a mission for Lord Voldemort at the school. Meanwhile, Harry Potter is escorted by Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore to spend the summer with the Weasley family. On the way, they stop to persuade former Hogwarts professor Horace Slughorn to return to the school to teach Potions. While shopping for school supplies, Harry, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger see Draco making enquiries at a shop associated with the Dark Arts. Harry later overhears Draco claiming that he has become a Death Eater.
At Hogwarts, Harry excels at Potions after discovering an old textbook filled with annotations written by the "Half-Blood Prince"; Harry wins a vial of the luck potion Felix Felicis in a class competition. He learns about Voldemort's past by viewing memories in a Pensieve with Dumbledore. Voldemort grew up in a Muggle orphanage, where he used his powers to harm other children. In his later years at Hogwarts, Voldemort questioned Slughorn about a Dark magical object called a Horcrux, which grants immortality. Dumbledore asks Harry to retrieve a memory from Slughorn, as the memory he showed Harry had been altered.
Meanwhile, Gryffindor student Katie Bell is nearly killed. Harry suspects Draco is responsible but lacks proof. He continues trying to expose Draco while fulfilling his duties as captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. He also realises that he has feelings for Ron's sister, Ginny. Ron feels excluded from his friend group because he is the only one not invited to an exclusive club run by Slughorn. Hermione invites Ron to the club's Christmas party, but he argues with her after learning about her past relationship with Viktor Krum. Afterwards, Ron begins to perform poorly in Quidditch matches.
Harry tries to repair Ron and Hermione's relationship and restore Ron's confidence, but he fails. Ron begins dating Lavender Brown to spite Hermione, prompting Hermione to lash out at him. At Slughorn's party, Harry overhears Draco refusing Snape's offer to help him with his mission. Harry informs Hermione, Arthur Weasley, and Remus Lupin, but they believe Snape was spying for Dumbledore. Ron and Hermione reconcile after Ron almost dies by poisoning. After multiple failed attempts to obtain the memory, Harry uses Felix Felicis to successfully persuade Slughorn to relinquish it.
The memory reveals that Slughorn told Voldemort how to create a Horcrux: by committing murder, a wizard can split their soul into parts which can be placed in enchanted objects. Dumbledore believes that Voldemort has split his soul into seven parts, each of which is contained in a Horcrux. Dumbledore deduces that two Horcruxes have already been destroyed, but four are still hidden. Meanwhile, Harry begins dating Ginny and duels Draco, severely injuring him with spells taken from the Potions textbook. Harry learns that Snape informed Voldemort of the prophecy concerning him, which led to the murder of Harry's parents. When confronted, Dumbledore defends Snape and claims that Snape regretted his actions.
Dumbledore and Harry encounter several obstacles while retrieving a Horcrux from a remote cave. Back at Hogwarts, a weakened Dumbledore is ambushed by Death Eaters, who have infiltrated the castle with Draco's help. Dumbledore immobilises Harry beneath the invisibility cloak, before Draco disarms Dumbledore. Harry then watches as Snape arrives and kills Dumbledore. The Death Eaters escape and Harry gives chase and subdues several of them, but is ultimately defeated by Snape. Before escaping with Draco, Snape also reveals that he is the Half-Blood Prince to Harry.
Harry learns that the Horcrux he retrieved with Dumbledore is a fake. At Dumbledore's funeral, Harry ends his relationship with Ginny to protect her and decides to find and destroy the Horcruxes with Ron and Hermione.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

The young wizard Harry Potter is about to turn seventeen. While being escorted to the Burrow by members of the Order of the Phoenix, the group is attacked by Death Eaters, who kill "Mad-Eye" Moody and Hedwig, and injure George Weasley. Lord Voldemort attempts to kill Harry but fails.
After the Death Eaters and Lord Voldemort take over the Ministry of Magic, Harry and his friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger begin searching for Voldemort's four remaining Horcruxes, which they hope to destroy and thus render him mortal. They learn that the locket Horcrux is in the possession of Dolores Umbridge at the Ministry of Magic. Harry and his friends infiltrate the Ministry and steal the locket from Umbridge, but are unable to destroy it. The locket's Dark magic affects Ron, who abandons Harry and Hermione. In Godric's Hollow, Harry and Hermione are attacked by Voldemort's snake Nagini, but manage to escape. One night, a Patronus guides Harry to a pond containing the Sword of Gryffindor. When he tries to recover it, the locket tightens around his neck, nearly drowning him. Ron returns and saves Harry, then destroys the Horcrux with the sword.
The three friends visit Xenophilius Lovegood, who tells them of the mythical objects known as the Deathly Hallows: the Elder Wand, the Resurrection Stone, and the Cloak of Invisibility. Xenophilius then alerts the Ministry of Magic to the presence of the trio in his home, and Harry and his friends flee. Soon after, they are captured by bounty hunters known as Snatchers, and are imprisoned in Malfoy Manor. Harry and Ron are thrown into the cellar with Dean Thomas, Luna Lovegood, Mr Ollivander, and Griphook the goblin, while the Death Eater Bellatrix Lestrange tortures Hermione. The house-elf Dobby helps the prisoners escape, but is killed in the process.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione break into Gringotts Bank and retrieve a Horcrux, Helga Hufflepuff’s cup. Voldemort learns of their mission which leads to Harry having visions of another Horcrux hidden at Hogwarts. After the trio enters the school with the help of Aberforth Dumbledore, Voldemort prepares to assault the castle. As the Death Eaters enter the school and fight the professors and students, Hermione destroys Hufflepuff’s cup. They then accompany Harry to the Room of Requirement, where they discover the next Horcrux, which is the Diadem of Ravenclaw. Draco Malfoy and his friends Crabbe and Goyle ambush them, and Crabbe casts a fire spell which grows out of control, killing him and destroying the Horcrux.
After stealing the Elder Wand from Albus Dumbledore's tomb, Voldemort is unable to make it obey him. Believing that Severus Snape is the master of the wand, Voldemort uses Nagini to mortally wound him. Before dying, Snape passes his memories to Harry, who views them in the Pensieve. The memories reveal that Snape loved Harry's mother, and acted as a double agent against Voldemort in an attempt to protect her. The memories also reveal that Dumbledore planned his own death at the hands of Snape so that Snape could gain Voldemort's trust, and that Harry himself became a Horcrux when Voldemort first tried to kill him. Now, Harry must die to render Voldemort mortal. On his way to surrender himself to Voldemort, Harry instructs Neville Longbottom to destroy Nagini.
Voldemort casts the Killing Curse on Harry, who then awakens in a dreamlike place. He is greeted by Dumbledore, who explains that the curse destroyed the fragment of Voldemort's soul inside Harry, and that Harry can now return to life. Harry subsequently regains consciousness and pretends to be dead. Voldemort orders Hagrid to carry Harry's body back to Hogwarts, and demands that the professors and students surrender; however, Neville pulls the Sword of Gryffindor from the Sorting Hat and kills Nagini. The battle resumes, during which Molly Weasley kills Bellatrix. Harry reveals himself to be alive and duels with Voldemort, who casts another Killing Curse. However, the Elder Wand refuses to kill Harry because he is its true master (the wand passed to Draco when he disarmed Dumbledore before his death, then to Harry when he disarmed Draco at his manor). Voldemort's spell rebounds and kills him.
In the novel's epilogue, set nineteen years later, Harry and his friends see their children off to Hogwarts. Harry and Ginny, now married, have three children: James Sirius, Albus Severus, and Lily Luna. Ron and Hermione have a daughter named Rose and a son named Hugo.